Prior to leaving Texas to flee his legal troubles, Perry Whatley expressed a desire to stay in Baytown. “I’ve lived in the same neighborhood for years,” he said, months before his death in Arizona.Prior to leaving Texas to flee his legal troubles, Perry Whatley expressed a desire to stay in Baytown. “I’ve lived in the same neighborhood for years,” he said, months before his death in Arizona.

Perry ”Bit” Whatley, 84, a former Baytown refinery worker and lifelong Texan, spent his final days in self-imposed exile, a fugitive from a more than two-year-old fight with the state probate courts.

Whatley was living in Arizona when he died, but it was not where he wanted to be, away from his home, cut off from his family and his $2 million fortune.